


One Life To Live

by Wizzy



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: gamer - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 03:32:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4903957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wizzy/pseuds/Wizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryu and I had been waiting a long time for Sword Art Online. I was lucky enough to have been one of the beta testers, so we had been able to learn a bit before we really began. Ryu had started before me that day and it wasn't until I saw the stories on the news that I jumped in. He was trapped in there, and I was the only one who could protect him now. I'll never let anyone or anything hurt you, little brother...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Finally Here

_(Ryu's POV)_

I was so excited to finally get to play that game that Sis has been a beta tester for. She'd let me play it a little as her avatar a couple times, but it's not the same. Sis promised that when the game finally came out, I could play the game with my own avatar with her.

But today Sis was busy helping mom. That meant she wouldn't get to play until later. Sis told me that it would be okay if I started without her as long as I didn't leave the safe zones on my own until she could join me.

Of course, we'd decided to come up with our names before we started. That way we could still tell who the other was if one of us started before the other. Sis said she was planning on calling hers Rune. Me? I'm Ryu Rune. I figured that someone else was already using Ryu, so I just added Sis's name to mine.

Before starting the game, I made sure to leave Sis a note telling her the name and where I would meet her later. When I was finally ready, I entered the game.

The place I started was the Town of Beginnings. So far everything seemed just like in the beta test that Sis did. Since I'd been told not to go off by myself, I wandered around inside the town. Sis was already familiar with this place, so I thought I would get to know the area too in case Sis wasn't able to help me.

Along the way, a ran into a dark haired guy talking to a guy with a bandana thing tied around his head. I fell to the ground and the bandana guy helped me up. “You okay man?” he asked and I just nodded excitedly.

“Sorry about that!” I didn't even consider that I sounded childish right now. “I'm just so excited to finally get to play after hearing Sis talk about being a beta tester for this. Hey are any of you guys beta testers too?“

The dark haired guy seemed annoyed. Was I bothering him? “I'm Ryu Rune! Sis can't be here until later and said not to leave the town on my own. So mind if I tag along with you guys for a little while until I can learn how to do everything?”

Bandana guy smiled at me. Maybe he figured out that I'm only ten? Dark haired guy still looked kind of annoyed. “Think you can handle helping the kid and me, Kirito?”

 _Dark haired guy must be named Kirito. That's such a cool name!_ “Please Mr Kirito? Sis let me try her avatar when she was doing the beta testing, so I know a little bit.” I begged him to help me out. Sis had only let me play once before telling me it was too dangerous for me to use her NerveGear. I'd asked her why, but all she really said was that she'd done something to it and she didn't want me to get hurt from it. “But it's been so long that I can't remember how to do it and when Sis comes I want her to see how strong I am!”

“So what do you say, Kirito?” Bandana guy asked his friend.

Kirito still looked annoyed, but nodded anyway. “Alright.”

“Yeah!” As the two walked off, I followed right along. When Sis got here, I was going to be strong. When she got here, we were gonna be the best team in this world.  _I'll make you proud, Sis!_


	2. The News

_(Lixue's POV)_

Ryu had been really down when I'd told him I wouldn't get to play the new game with him until later. He'd been waiting so long to play Sword Art Online. Not wanting to make him wait even longer, I told him to go ahead and start without me. As an ex-beta tester, I would have a fairly easy time finding him as long as he stayed close to the starting town.

Before I'd get time to join him in the game, mom had a lot of chores for me. By the time I'd finished, it was dinner time. Ryu had been in the game a couple hours now. “Will you tell Ryu to come out and have his dinner?”

“Mom, if he's still in the game then he won't hear anything I tell him,” I told her. She didn't really know much about the games I played, so it was a bit funny to me that she assumed it was that easy.

“Then take that thing off of him. That disconnects you from the game, right?” She wasn't wrong. But that was the worst way to go about this. If he was using my NerveGear, then I was a bit worried it would malfunction and may hurt him. You see, I'm pretty handy with electronics and had been tampering a bit with mine. Of course I was smart enough to mark mine and warn Ryu not to touch it, since he had his own now.

“He'd be upset if you did that. I'll just go in-game and have him log out,” I told her as I started to leave the kitchen. “If he's in a battle right now, I don't think he would be happy about it being interrupted.”

As I left the kitchen and was passing through the living room, something on the TV caught my attention. A news reporter was saying something about people dying after the NerveGear being removed while they were playing the new game, Sword Art Online. I paused just a second to hear a bit more. The most I could get was that SAO had become a death game.

Immediately I panicked and rushed into my room where Ryu was supposed to be playing our new game. Silently I prayed that he was just sitting on my bed waiting for me and not logged into that game. Of course, that was too much to hope for.

I had to get him out of there. But what if mom were to come in and remove the NerveGear without even knowing that it would kill us? I couldn't just sit here doing nothing though. Ryu wouldn't last long in there on his own, not if SAO really had turned into a death game.

Then I knew exactly what I should do. Grabbing a piece of paper, I quickly scribbled out a note for our mother and left it where I knew she would see it. After that was done, I put on my NerveGear and entered the world of SAO.

_Mom,_

_Something went wrong with the game. No matter what, do not remove the NerveGear (the helmet things) or it will kill us. Everyone playing that game has been trapped and the only way we can make sure Ryu gets out of there alive is if I go in after him._

_DO NOT TAKE THE NERVEGEAR OFF! Take it off and we'll die. If you don't believe me, it's all over the news. Don't worry, I'll get him back._

_Please, I need you to trust me to get him out. I'm the only one who can protect him. I need you to trust me. I promise I won't let anything happen to him. Just trust in me._

_Lixue_    


	3. Finding My Brother

As soon as I was in the game, I searched all over the Town of Beginnings. I shouted his name everywhere I went. “Ryu!” But there seemed to be no sign of him.

Alleyways, buildings, every place I could go in the town I searched. But no matter how many places I looked, I found nothing. The more I ran around shouting for him, the more desperate I got. I had to find him. No one else could protect him in this place. I was his big sister, it was my job to take care of him. What good was I if I couldn't protect him in this place?

When I was sure I'd searched everywhere, I just fell to my knees and cried out of frustration. “Where are you Ryu?” I whispered to myself, slamming my fist on the ground. “This is all my fault...”

“You okay, miss?” a voice asked from nearby. I instantly regained control over myself and looked up to see a man of about twenty or so standing in front of me.

Putting on a smile, I stood up. “I'm fine. I was just worried about my little brother,” I told him, though I wasn't entirely sure why I was telling this to a complete stranger. Looking behind him, I noticed he had a small group with him. Among them was a young boy of about ten years old.

He recognized me before I could even get a good look at him. “Sis!” little Ryu shouted and ran forward towards me. Immediately I threw my arms around him. I'd never been so relieved in my entire life.

“I was so worried about you! When I heard what had happened I came in here to find you...”

“Ow... Sis... You're squishing me...” he protested and I only squeezed him tighter.

The tears I'd forced back earlier resurfaced. “Next time... next time just wait for me, okay? That way if one of us gets stuck, we'll be stuck together... Then mom and I won't have to worry...”

“Sis... I'm okay... So... don't cry... alright?”

As I let go, the guy finally spoke. “You must be the amazing Sis the beta tester that he keeps talking about. Nice to meet you,” he said, holding his hand out for me to shake it. The guy had a pretty goofy smile on his face. “You're much cuter than I-” The strange guy was cut off as Ryu kicked him in the stomach.

“Don't hit on Sis!” Ryu growled at him in a playfully protective way. I hadn't even realized that was what the guy had been doing. Guess I'm pretty oblivious with those things. Lucky for the two of us, my brother was not.

“Ryu...” I scolded my younger sibling.

He looked up at me with an innocent smile. “Someone's gotta look out for you.”

“That's my line, mister,” I laughed. If there was one thing I couldn't do, it was stay mad at him. Once he'd recovered, I turned my attention to the stranger. “I don't believe I got your name. I'm Rune.” That was my avatar's name, but as long as we were in the game, my real name didn't matter.

“That's Klein,” Ryu answered for him. “The guy's a bit of an idiot, but he's nice enough.”

“Ryu...” I groaned. “Don't be so rude.”

Ryu just smiled, knowing that I wasn't going to be mad for more than a few seconds. “Just tellin' the truth, Sis.”

The guy named Klein seemed a bit hurt by my younger sibling's words, but he didn't say anything about it. “It's nice to meet you, Rune,” he said, shaking my hand. “So you're really one of the beta testers?”

“Yep!” Ryu said excited before I had a chance to answer. He grabbed Klein's hand and pulled it away from mine. “Now keep your hands off my sister and there won't be any problems.”


End file.
